Shelter In Place: Poems in a Time of COVID-19

What do you do when you are a teacher/writer and you lose your classroom because your world is locked down? Following the order to stay home because of the exploding Coronavirus contagion, Stan Kusunoki’s response was to keep a journal in poetry form. From the grim early days of late March 2020 until Minnesota Governor, Tim Walz, allowed a limited opening on May 18, Kusunoki recorded daily life: the joys and frustrations of teaching online, and the ordinary activities of living under the Shelter in Place order. When things began to open up, Kusunoki realized he had a day-to-day history of this time, and enough poems for a new manuscript. The result is this book. He invites you to join him as he takes on the challenges of teaching online, discovers the meditative calm of walking the labyrinth at Como Park, observes back-yard critters living their normal lives, and performs sidewalk concerts for the neighbors. Here are the ups and downs, fears, and celebrations of one poet’s experience with COVID-19.